This morning, while doing some market research for this, soon to be running, operation, I came across an old study, that placed MTT - Marine Turbine Technologies, a company from Southern Louisiana, that designs, engineers, produces and refurbishes jet turbine engines, as one of key players in motorcycle industries. I have to say, the name did not ring a bell, so I opened up a new tab and decided to see for myself. And there it was, Y2K, the jet bike... I thought to myself: “ I remember you, you old behemoth with that - whale face”. Just staring at it for a while made me happy. Balls... These guys have some huge ones. Coming out with something so outrageous, that it verges incomprehensible, means that Isle of Man TT riders have met their match.
The original Y2K, it shows signs of age, technologies have improved so much that something 20 years old, looks and feels out of the stone age, not that it's lacking, it's just dated. And if you do think that it's Fred Flintstones bike, you might have a point, because the the Rolls Royce Allison 250 gas turbine engine is a 50 year old technology, however, sticking 420hp/52,000rpm and around 500ft/lbs of torque in a motorcycle that weights just around 500lbs is something that even nowadays only a few OEMs will try. Because it's not profitable, or because they have nothing to prove, or just because they are so worked up about profits and shares and markets, that they don't make things just because they can.
Did I mention it runs on Diesel? It runs on DIESEL!
And that is exactly why MTT did it. Because they could, and because they were told it cannot be done. There is an old saying - “The person who says it cannot be done, should not disturb the person doing it”, and there we have it.
Y2K costed 175,000$ when it was new in the year 2000, and nowadays you can pick a used one up for - well… you can't really. There aren't many, or ANY for sale, and I suspect even if there are they are not much cheaper than there were new. Luckily, MTT has a new, updated version, the 420, it's race ready and looks pretty neat if you ask me. They even went out on a curb and made a trike! Now that's a proper mobility scooter if I ever saw one!
In reality, most of us will never have a chance to ride, or even see one in person, and pictures and low quality old YouTube videos is all we have to experience what's it like to be in a presence of an absolute legend.
MTT 420 RR
